Chapter 15 - A Dance for the Dead

Giata wouldn't cancel the concert.

“Dominic wants me invisible,” she said. “So I'm going to be impossible to miss.”

Price objected. Elias objected louder. Giata booked a small downtown theater anyway, with step-free access and a stage that could hold her chair beside the piano. Nia arranged an independent livestream. Price stationed officers she personally trusted at every exit.

One copy of Lena's files had already reached a federal prosecutor. Another stayed with Nia in a sealed evidence bag. A third was hidden where Dominic couldn't easily find it.

“Where?” Elias asked.

Giata smiled. “That's what you get for telling me nothing for three years.”

The night of the show, Marisol wore a navy dress borrowed from Constance and her old dance shoes, repaired with black tape. Her knee ached, but she could manage a few steps. Giata had asked her to dance beside the piano during the final verse.

“Think of it as a mop with better lighting,” Giata said backstage.

Marisol laughed. “You better not tell anyone about the mop.”

The theater filled with neighbors, reporters, former music students, and people who had once been too afraid of the Sarno name to come near it. Some came to hear Giata. Others came to see whether her brother would bring trouble.

Elias stood at the back. He had handed his gun to Price before entering. It felt like walking into winter without a coat.

At eight, the lights dimmed. Giata rolled toward the piano. She looked out at the audience and found Marisol beside the curtain, smiling encouragement.

Then Marisol's phone lit up with a text from Nico's number.

MARI. I'M AT THE SIDE EXIT. PLEASE. COME ALONE.

She showed the screen to Price's nearest officer, a tall man with a theater badge. “My brother's here.”

“I'll take you,” he said.

He guided her down a narrow corridor. The exit door stood open to the rain. Before Marisol could see anyone outside, the officer seized her wrist and pressed a cloth over her mouth.

She twisted, kicking his shin. Another man caught her from behind.

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Onstage, Giata played the first note of Lena's song.

And in the back row, Dominic Sarno rose to his feet, smiling at his cousin as Marisol disappeared through the side door.